Authors: Amber Lynn
A swirl of pink smoke surrounds Phee and I hear her start coughing. I take pleasure in that and chuckle to myself. When the smoke clears she looks exactly like me.
“Change her to something else,” I practically shout freaked out. Her belly doesn’t look like it is sticking out anywhere near enough. She is wearing my knives well. If I look that good all decked out, I am surprised Alex and Sebastian are able to keep their hands to themselves.
“No way. Can I get some of this for later? Post baby would be preferred,” Phee says. “Although, I think I can rock the baby bump. Sam, we should really start thinking about taking this step.”
Not a good idea. Being an auntie is one thing, but she is not ready for motherhood. Most days, I am not ready for motherhood, but I am about a million times more mature than Phee.
“Hilda, I will warn you now, if you answer in the affirmative, I am knifing you tomorrow.” Sophia should be out by then and I can use the Panoptic knife on the troublesome witch. “Why isn’t her Peanut bump as big as mine?”
“That is just the mirror effect. She looks exactly like you right this second. You are used to seeing your belly in the mirror and I swear those things add twenty pounds. In real life, you look amazing for someone currently in the process of giving birth,” Hilda explains. She hands out the rest of her little vials and then places her hand on Phee’s head. “Atharrach.”
Phee turns into Hilda and having two of them together is worse than seeing another me. Magic has its purpose, but I still like to use it as little as possible. Hilda takes her drink and makes her way over to me as she morphs into Nyx 3.0.
“Atharrach dìdeann,” she says waving her hand in front of my face.
“Why was my spell different?” I look down and see my fingernails are painted a bright pink color. I wasn’t sure what I would see with the spells in place. The pinkies have black polka dots on them. Thank God she was preparing to go into battle and not a party. I would not be happy in a pair of her high heels, even if it was just a mirage.
“Just a little extra protection for you. We should be all set. We know who is leading us in. I think for the most part everyone else will follow in behind us. The personal guards will want to stay close to us. I think we would be sage allowing the Fae to hang close to our real package. That should give you enough protection. Any other suggestions or questions we should think about before we hit the land of no return?”
“As long as everyone remembers that Frank is mine, I think we are good. This is our first real battle against the force we have been fighting for most of our lives. I have no doubt we will come out victorious and bring our wolf leader home. Keep your senses opened and eyes peeled. We will allow surrender from their forces. You will disarm those wishing to turn against the Collective and join the winning cause.
“I trust everyone brought restraints with them, so please use them. No matter how believable they may seem, we will be taking them back to our compound secured. It is my greatest wish that once their ringleader has been taken out the rest will cease to fight against us. Oh, and above all, protect your princess or queen. It is your duty to ensure her safety.” Shouts of affirmatives echo through the crowd at the end of Jonas' pep talk. It was a nice little speech.
“Aren't you supposed to be the leader of this army?” I ask Alex. That is supposed to be his day job, so to speak.
“I am, but Jonas was rallying the troops long before I came along and we decided to keep things the way they were. Plus, I think he really likes to hear himself talk. We shouldn't be far now. I am going to have to leave you in Sebastian's capable hands. I love you, Nyx, and I cannot wait to get you home, with your dad, and welcome Sophia into this world. I am just a thought away if either of you need a thing.” He leans down and places a lingering kiss on my forehead before reluctantly walking over to Hilda and Walt.
I wonder if the fact that I look like Phee now had anything to do with him not trying for the lips. I know I better not find him pretending to make out with Hilda. If Peanut wasn't connected, I wouldn't hesitate to send him a really nice image of what I would do to him if I caught him in a compromising position. I will just have to draw him a sketch of it later.
Chapter 14
There is only one correct answer
It doesn't take us more than another two minutes to find the Dark Forest. The Dark Forest isn't something you really find, though. It kind of finds you. There was no warning; one minute we were walking in a nice green oasis and the next the blackened trees were surrounding us.
The change in scenery is definitely not for the faint of heart.
It isn't exactly like what this world looked like when we first stepped over. The basic color scheme is the same, but there isn't a cry for help to fix the dying earth and the amount and general shape of the trees makes them feel spooky.
“Well, at least I have found a place to send Clyde when he misbehaves,” I say looking up at the sky, which was blue just a second ago. Now, it is as black as midnight and flashes of lightening arc across it.
“Ha. Ha. You are just so hilarious. Why don't you leave the jokes to the professionals and keep to things you are good at. Like having babies,”
Clyde so kindly suggests.
I don't think he likes this place. For some odd reason that makes me like it just a little bit.
The thought that no one discussed what the angel among us will be doing during the battle jumps to the forefront of my mind. Now that we are into the forest, I don't think it is safe for me to voice my questions for all to hear.
“I will just be an observer today. Unless my sister is in danger, then I will assist in any way possible,” he replies without me needing to blow my cover. I have to remember to be careful. My words a second ago about Clyde might have appeared odd coming from Phee.
Sebastian grabs my hand and gives a nice, strong squeeze. As he does it I feel a tremor ripple through my belly. There is a slight, almost miniscule, needle prick of pain that accompanies it.
“Was that what I think it was?”
I ask glancing down at my invisible tummy.
“It is our daughter wanting to break out of her cage. We are going to have a handful with that one. I will go on record now as saying we shouldn't let her see the outside world until she is twenty.”
“And how do you plan to accomplish that? She is going to have all of you guys wrapped around her little finger the second she comes out. You and Alex are already hopelessly whipped. I am sure Walt already has a pony lined up for her and is planning to walk her around town on it as soon as she can hold her head up.”
I caught him looking up breeders the other day, so I think my claim is valid.
“Alex and I are waiting for our 'Congratulations, you were just born' present to be finished. A lifetime supply of chastity belts takes a little while to form and such. We guesstimated her to be about your size when she matures so hopefully she doesn't inherit my stature. We may need to place a future order if that is the case.”
I cannot help laugh out loud at his ideas. Just the thought of a baby, not even born yet, having a chastity belt waiting for her is hilarious. Add the fact that I am ninety nine percent for sure he isn't joking and you have the best joke punch line ever invented.
Alex doesn't see the humor, so he adds,
“Laugh all you want. We thought about making you a matching set, but decided we didn't want the hassle of having to dig out the key every time we wanted to play with you.”
Yup, that stops the laughing real quick, again because I know it is true. Now, Sophia needs to come out so we can punish her daddies together. It shouldn't take long for me to impart my devious ways onto the little peanut. Her being able to communicate from the get go will come in handy.
“Teaching our daughter how to threaten to cut off body parts and come across sounding sincere is not going to win you Mother of the Year awards,”
Sebastian suggests.
It is a good thing I didn't think for a second that I would make it past the preliminaries. Unless the panel consisted of axe murders and serial killers, I have absolutely zero chance of being nominated.
“There is trouble up ahead. I sense a Grim,” Ian says causing us all to halt. “And he is not alone. There is a Cailleach Bheur with him. Those two banding together cannot bode well.”
“Jolly good,” Hilda says mastering my voice, but the words aren't something I would find myself saying. “Ian, would you be so kind to inform the rest of us what we are in for?”
“Yes, ma'am. I believe you will find a Grim to be similar to Reaper Demons on your side of the veil. Our version doesn't make deals, though. They just like to kill everything in their path. The Cailleach Bheur, or Blue Hag, is just about as friendly. You will want to watch out for her staff. One touch from it and you are turned to dust.”
What a charming pair. I bet I could convince them to vote me in for Mom of the Year.
“Now, young Fae, why do you have to go about warning all the easy targets about stuff like that?” a scratchy, womanly voice echoes through the trees.
“Really, it would have been so much more fun to just toy with you one by one. Although after being less fleshy for so long a little bit of a fight might be in order,” a deep man's voice booms from the other side of the forest.
“Any recommendations on getting us all out of this alive? You guys do have a magic solution for fighting them off, right?” I ask drawing two knives. No time like the present to test out the fine print on the one that claims to kill anything.
“For the Hag, it is easy. Don't let her touch you and you are golden,” Ian says as he and the other Fae fan out and get ready for action. “The Grim can shoot a blue flame of fire at you and if it hits you, you aren't going to like it. The bad part is once he targets you with the flame, it won't let up until it hits the target.”
“I am not hearing a way to defeat them in that explanation,” I yell getting highly agitated at the situation.
“That is because there isn't a way to kill them. If you have iron, and can actually use it on them, you might sting them a little, but it won't keep them from doing damage,” one of the other Knights of the Round Table says.
My forces start forming a protective circle around me. I don't know if they are even cognizant of what they are doing. It looks like a well-choreographed dance routine. I end up with a two man deep ring about eight feet in front of me on all sides. Sebby and Gabe stand close to me ready to attack.
“Nice dwellers of this forest, is there anything we can do to get our passage granted without a loss of life?” I ask just throwing the thought out there.
“You brought brains with you today. That is a new one for you Fae,” the woman says and I am betting she has come out for everyone to see. Everyone except the one who still doesn't meet the height requirements at the amusement parks.
“Are we allowed to see the wise one?” the man asks. He too sounds closer.
“We would prefer you didn't,” Ian claims. “She does pose an interesting question.”
“That she does,” the man replies. “To answer it, yes you can be granted free passage to wherever you are heading in the woods, for a small price.”
The woman laughs and I expect the price we are going to have to pay is going to be steep.
“Name it. I will find a way to pay it,” I vow. Yeah, it is probably a stupid move on my part, but in the heat of the moment it sounds good.
“Great. You really are the smart one in the group. The fee is simple. Give us one person to play with and the rest of you are free to go,” the man answers.
I should have seen that one coming. It is an old familiar tune that has been played out so many times in history.
“Can we take a second to talk about this?” Sebastian asks.
“Of course, just keep in mind that whatever the wise one answers with cannot be changed. I suggest you choose wisely. Ah, but since she is so wise to begin with, that shouldn't be difficult.”
The main circle stays in place, but my personal guards do turn around to add their input.
“If you can promise me you will take care of Frank, I will stay behind,” Jonas starts us off.
“No, you deserve to get that retribution yourself, I have lived longer than you so I should stay,” Walt says.
“No way, you are both better fighters than me, I nominate myself,” Jake says.
“If that is the criteria we are basing things off of, I am the least trained here,” Will says. “I could actually be an issue in real battle. Maybe I should hang back.”
Holy crap. I didn't see the talk going like this. I wasn’t expecting a talk to begin with.
“If it were between me and Alex, I would say pick me to stay. My legacy is already in place and he has work left to do,” Sebastian states.
“No, I will give myself up before the King,” Marcus says and that is enough for him.
“It would be an appropriate punishment for my months of doubting you,” Smitty adds.
“Just to comment on Sebastian's statement, it would need to be me you picked if you were choosing between us,” Alex claims. “He has to be there for your child. I don't.”
“You two are idiots. She cannot choose either of you because at your demise she goes too. Go ahead and pick me,” Dante says. “I am kind of the new kid on the block and odd man out. You have stronger connections with the others.”
I really wish they would slow down. It is hard to take all of their requests for death in at once.
“I will point out that they said play and not necessarily kill,” Gabe says. “Either way, me or the Hellhound would be the best choices. We are sturdier than the rest of you. They might not even be able to kill us.”
“I am game if that means you get Grandpa back home safe and sound. I will bark at them a couple of times and watch my breath eat away their skin.”
I really hope they are done because I don't want to hear anymore. If I give the Fae an opportunity, I bet I will hear more of the same and I already know that the standard guards would all offer. “I choose me,” I say before anyone can stop me.